N.J. school district pleads with lawmakers to save sports programs. ‘We are out of options.’

By NJ.com

A New Jersey township facing severe budget cuts that are threatening the future of recreation and high school sports programs in the district brought their pleas for help directly to the state Legislature last week.

District and student leaders from Jefferson Township testified before the state Senate and Assembly Budget Committees on March 24 and 25, advocating for state assistance to offset a budget deficit that could lead to the elimination of all extracurricular activities in the district, including Jefferson High School sports programs.

Jefferson High is facing a $4.8 million shortfall, driven by a 60% reduction in state aid and a 25% reduction in per-pupil student funding allotments. The district has also been restricted in its ability to grow revenue by the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, which limits new housing and commercial development in 88 municipalities across the state to protect drinking water for 70% of New Jersey’s population.

A group of about 100 Jefferson students, residents, parents and faculty members attended the Assembly Budget Committee at the Statehouse in Trenton to ask lawmakers for immediate supplemental aid to close the budget deficit before the start of the 2026-2027 fiscal year on July 1.

“As a lifelong resident, a parent of two graduates, and a graduate of the Jefferson Township High School myself, this issue is deeply personal to me,” Jefferson Mayor Eric Wilsusen said in his testimony before the committee. “This crisis has been building for the last eight years. If further cuts are made, my alma mater, the very heart of this community, will be unrecognizable.”

Emily Henderson, a seventh-grader at Jefferson Intermediate School who plays lacrosse and ice hockey, delivered a four-minute address, warning that cutting sports would have a catastrophic impact on the community.

“It would be very disappointing to spend years preparing for these opportunities only to have them taken away,” Henderson said. “Sports are important for students’ futures, as many colleges recruit athletes. Jefferson students deserve an environment where they can learn, grow, and feel supported every day.”

Jefferson superintendent Jeanne Howe told NJ.com the district received $308,000 in state aid but was denied approximately $1.2 million in additional aid due to arbitrary caps. The deficit is said to be driven largely by a $1,166,583 loss in state aid and nearly $2.9 million in increased healthcare costs.

The Jefferson Board of Education approved a preliminary budget for the 2026–2027 school year on March 23 that implemented cuts least harmful to students, including a 2% tax levy increase, reducing the district’s projected deficit to $2.9 million.

The moves allowed the school board to keep athletics, after-school programs, and courtesy busing within the budget for the 2026-27 school year. But the long-term survival of those programs remains unclear, according to Howe.

“The board has submitted an unbalanced budget, and right now, our budget includes those items,” Howe said. “Because it’s unbalanced, we may be given a state monitor, who then assumes full financial control of the district. We are out of options and out of time.”

The state Commissioner of Education can appoint a state monitor to oversee school districts facing significant budget deficits under New Jersey state law. The appointed monitor would have broad power to approve and reject contracts, restructure budgets, and enforce cost-containment measures.

The Jefferson Township school board is scheduled to adopt the final budget on April 27. Gov. Mikie Sherrill proposed a record-high state education budget earlier this month, where more than 400 school districts are slated to see their budgets increase. Jefferson Township is slated to see a 6% increase in aid if the budget passes.

However, time is running out, and the fate of Jefferson Township sports, as well as other well-regarded extracurricular activities and services, hangs in the balance.

“If we received a $2.9 million appropriation or stabilization aid or some kind of assistance before July 1, we could submit a balanced budget,” Howe said. “Everything we are fighting so hard to keep in the budget would remain in the budget and be safe for the 26-27 school year.”

For immediate help, state Assemblywoman Aura Dunn, R-Morris, and Assemblywoman Marisa Sweeney, D-Morris, introduced a companion bill that would a supplemental appropriation of $4.8 million for aid to Jefferson. State Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco, R-Morris, introduced an identical bill on March 4. The bipartisan supplemental bill is one part of three bills within Dunn’s ​​“Clean Water Promise Package” to stabilize school funding for municipalities within the Highlands region.

“There is no getting around addressing the need to reformulate this S2 formula,” Dunn told NJ.com. “If we’re gonna talk about we commit to giving a thorough and efficient education to every student in this state, we have to recognize that school funding lies at the heart of affordability and our affordability crisis in this state.”

Dunn and Sweeney also joined Assemblyman Alex Sauickie, R-Ocean, on the bipartisan bill named "Fairness for School Districts in Development Restricted Areas Act." The legislation would provide permanent additional state aid to school districts in communities affected by the Highlands and Pinelands protection.

“The bill that I wrote is to fix the problem going forward, and it would be part of the ongoing school funding formula, which, in my view, lacks transparency,” Sauickie told NJ.com. ​​"Under the current funding formula, the state is pushing it to the local level to raise property taxes. That’s the irony. The Highlands Act basically says you can’t develop, and therefore, you can’t raise property taxes. It’s counter to what the state funding formula is telling towns like Jefferson to do.”

Sauickele noted Jefferson would receive an additional $5 million annually under this bill. The assemblyman also told NJ.com he plans to submit legislation later in April to introduce a new per-pupil-based formula.

Both the Senate and Assembly would need to pass the bills before the governor could sign them into law.

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